Have you ever heard of "Zenmondō?" It is a Zen Buddhist practice where a master devises seemingly impossible questions that have no correct answer for their students such as "I clapped with both hands, but how would it sound with one hand?" or "How old is the historical Buddha, Shakyamuni?"

Taizō-in is a Zen Buddhist temple of the Rinzai sect, and is particularly famous for handing down the famous Zenmondō scroll, "Hyōnen-zu." This national treasure asks the question "how do you catch a slimy catfish with a slippery gourd?" Thirty-one monks of Gozan Temple in Kyoto have answered this question. In other words, the scroll holds the answers given by the Zen Buddhist monks representing ancient Kyoto. I will introduce an excerpt from this poem to show how some of these 31 monks answered the question.

“Hold down the catfish using the gourd and make a clear soup out of it. Of course, you’d also need rice. Why not cook some of the sand instead?”

“Coat the gourd with oil and hold down the catfish when it’s swimming with the current. Trying to hold down the catfish from different places will only make one realize that one can’t hold it down, and that will put an end to one’s desire for it.”

What do you think? Some are unique and amusing, while others leave us in awe. Perhaps these questions demand that we "overcome logic" in order to answer them. Ordinarily you wouldn't even think of trying to catch a catfish with a gourd. However, that kind of logic bogs down our minds. Strangely enough, we don't have to be bound by how things "should be." But ultimately, it's also okay to be entrapped. The ability to perceive one’s boundaries, and freely step in and out of them, is important.

※ON THE TRIP has prepared an online guide to Taizō-in Temple, narrated by Vice Abbot Matsuyama Taikō. We encourage you to listen to it as you roam the grounds of Taizō-in Temple.